Historic Hell

UPDATE:  Why does it always rain on field trip days?  I think of the seven or so days of tours we've had, it's rained 6 times!!  This means damp kids (because they walk over, money being too short for a bus), lunch inside (oh, the smell of bologna sandwiches on a wet day!  It's like wet dog.), and no outdoor activities, so they don't get the full historic house experience AND are restless and extra noisy.  Do we have to make up the deficit in our annual rainfall in October???
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Okay, it's not that bad.  But we have been having a few glitches with the historic house tours this season.  Volunteer shortage is always a challenge and this year is no different, but we're filling in the slots and I'll end up doing about half of them.  Almost a chance for me to wear all my different costume pieces!  (Though, if it doesn't cool off, I'll be wearing my vest instead of my bodices and one skirt instead of two!)

But there have been other things.  The biggest challenge has been our new activity:  making butter.  We talk about prepping for the winter and storing the harvest because there were green grocers. per se.  We used to string apple slices on string and hang them in the fireplace, talking about pie for breakfast and lunch and dinner so that Americans were called "pie eaters," but this year we're making butter.  Kid are fascinated to learn than a.) butter was not available all year long because cows don't naturally produce milk all year b.)  butter was salted to preserve it because there was no refrigeration (butter is still salted as a preservative--buy unsalted; it's fresher.)  c.) butter isn't naturally golden yellow, though it does have a faint yellow hue when it separates--real gold color is obtained using marigold petals and d.) YOU can make butter yourself.

Except it hasn't been working.  In theory, you shake heavy cream (not half and half or, heaven forbid, any low-fat project--you need the fat) in a container with some kind of agitator; this mimics the old-fashioned butter churn with the plunger-stick.   We started with glass jars with screw-top lids and marbles.  I even tested it with the kiddos--voila, butter in less than five minutes.  But on the very first day of tours, in the first class, the bottom of a glass jar just sheared right off, spraying cream, but luckily not glass, everywhere.  I guess there was a flaw in the glass, though I expect better of Ball jars.

Better safe than sorry, we switched to screw-top Ziploc snack containers, the kind in which my kids take apples to school.  But the plastic can't stand up to the use--perhaps it's the marble or the dice (or sometimes the Lego) hitting the plastic, but small cracks appeared in every single container, even on the first go-round.  I even bought a second round of containers, but, still, leakage.

We were going to go back to jars today, but there were two kids with dairy allergies so we returned to stringing apples.  Besides, the class was 45 minutes late, and apples are faster.  Still, the kids are fascinated by the butter and we'll return to that tomorrow.

But the late classes these last two days has been another headache.  Docents have to trim the tour, sometimes by as much as 45 minutes!  That's hard on the fly.  Especially after the kids have been inside all day and are noisy and restless (they go to another museum before us)--with the wet weather, they can't eat outside before the tour or play outside afterwards. (Today, one of the teachers had just given up, wouldn't even try to quieten the kids.) This causes chaos.

Especially with cream flying everywhere.

Celebration!!!

It might be a tad premature, as it hasn't actually started, but it looks like the teen docent program at "my" historic house that I designed with the local schools is going ahead as planned!!!!   After meeting with the assistant superintendent, I submitted the call for interns today and we will begin training them the first week of March.  I'm so excited.  It's the beauty of a small organization and a small town that we can get it up and running so quickly and relatively easily-all very straightforward, face-to-face, friendly.  The old fashioned "do business with a handshake."   I know there will be hiccups and bumps, but for now I'm just enjoying the joy.  Best of all, it gets two birds with one stone:  our need for more docents AND our goal of serving the town!  Plus, my own desire to expand professionally and find new challenges.  Yay!

Lovely Luncheon

We hosted a thank-you luncheon for our historic-house docents earlier this week, a simple affair with wraps, potato chips, pickles, and salad, followed by my almond cake with fresh berries.  But the director of the house made it elegant with her china and linen, which looked beautiful in the historic house setting.  How fun to eat in a 300+ year-old house!  Imagine all the dinners that had gone before.  Very few with potato chips, I imagine.

At the luncheon, one of the docents, who is a frequent and generous baker, brought to me a copy of a recipe for her delicious Apricot Bars that I'd requested--and she had hand-printed it on a lovely recipe card.  How often does that happen?  I expected an email in Arial or Times New Roman, just as I send out my own recipes to friends--it was another lovely touch.

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Orange Poppy Seed Dressing for Salad
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
dash salt
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
3 tablespoons orange juice
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Whisk the honey, vinegar, mustard, salt, poppy seeds, and orange juice in a small bowl.  Slowly whisk in the oil until the dressing is thickened slightly.  The dressing may be refrigerated for several days if desired.

Serve with strawberries, mandarin oranges, and pecans over spring greens.  Or with candied cranberries:

2 cups cranberries
1 tablespoon (cup? measurement missing) sugar

Preheat oven to 350F  Spread cranberries in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle them with sugar.  Cover the pan slightly with foil and bake for one hour stirring occasionally.  They will shrivel and appear soft. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate until well chilled or up to two days.

Miss C.A.

Norwegian Apricot Bars
1 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 eggs
2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

Rinse apricots.  Place in saucepan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes or until tender.  Drain well.  Cool--cut into small pieces.

In mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, and 1 cup flour.  Blend until crumbly.  Press into bottom of greased 9" square pan.  Bake for 15 minutes.

While crust is baking make topping.  In a medium bowl, beat eggs and gradually add brown sugar.  combine 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add to egg mixture with vanilla.  Fold in nuts and apricots.Remove crust from oven and spread topping over.  Bake 30 minutes more.  Cool.  Cut into squares, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.  Enjoy!

Miss P.K.